Telia pays the most in Finnish 5G auction

Finland offered up nearly 400 MHz of mid frequency 5G spectrum to its MNOs and Telia bought the most expensive block.

The whole of the 3410-3800 MHz frequency range, split into three blocks of 130 MHz each. After just a few days of bidding Finland’s three MNOs concluded their business as follows:

Frequency band 3410–3540 MHz (A)

Telia Finland

€30,258,000

Frequency band 3540–3670 MHz (B)

Elisa

€26,347,000

Frequency band 3670–3800 MHz (C)

DNA

€21,000,000

The slightly lower frequency stuff apparently has a bit more value than the rest and it’s worth noting that Elisa is the market leader by subscriber number so it looks like Telia has decided to make a strategic move to close the gap in the 5G era.

While Finland is admittedly a much smaller country, €77 million seems like a small return for the government when you compare it to the frenzied bidding we’re seeing in Italy. You can see the respective numbers crunched by Light Reading here.